In a conventional pneumatic tire, particularly a high-performance tire, the tread pattern is generally formed by combining circumferential grooves extending along the circumferential direction of the tire with a plurality of grooves inclined relative to the circumferential direction. The combination of grooves forms a plurality of tread blocks along the radially outer surface of tire. If the inclined grooves do not extend completely across the equatorial plane of the tire, a central rib may be formed in the tread.
Chamfers and their surface derivatives, usually known as bevels, have been utilized primarily to aid in the protection of non-stable corners or edges of tread blocks. Traditionally, chamfers have been just small angle slices off the corner of tread blocks where a point was considered too weak to hold up to the stresses of contacting the road. Such chamfers are cut at an angle between 30° to 75° from the tread surface.